Barely won. Needed help. But Miami Dolphins are a playoff team for first time since 2016 | Opinion
They got the win they needed at Hard Rock Stadium. They got the help they needed in Buffalo.
It wasn’t pretty and it took some luck and they got there limping and with a grateful exhale, but the Miami Dolphins are back in the NFL playoffs for the first time since 2016 -- and only the third time in the past 21 seasons.
The Dolphins escaped with a 11-6 field goal festival of a home win Sunday over the rival New York Jets, a victory that would have been for naught had Buffalo not beaten the New England Patriots in a concurrent game, 35-23.
Miami won it on Jason Sanders’ 50-yard field goal with 18 seconds to play in the fourth quarter, after he’d been only 1-for-5 from that distance earlier this season.
But the Fins need to send a thank-you gift basket to the Bills’ Nyheim Hines, who returned two kickoffs for touchdowns to help deny Bill Belichick’s Pats the playoff berth they’d have snatched from the Dolphins’ hands by winning.
As it is, the favor Buffalo did the Fins on Sunday is likely to not be repeated next week.
First-round matchup to begin the playoffs: Miami at wintry Buffalo, where the Bills are sure to be sizable favorites -- especially if Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa continues unavailable due to his latest concussion.
Miami in the postseason at all is remarkable on a few different levels.
The Dolphins somehow managed it despite losing five games in a row before Sunday.
The team managed it despite being down to third-string QB Skylar Thompson on Sunday because of injuries to Tua and backup Teddy Bridgewater.
And the Fins did it with the narrowest of escapes against a Jets team that also had lost five in a row coming in.
It was hardly the way a team wishes to enter the postseason -- healthy and with great momentum.
Two strong defenses plus Miami down to a rookie third-string QB plus the Jets’ epic struggles with the ball equaled one of the most spectacularly futile offensive games this or any stadium has seen.
McDanilel would not or could not say much about who his QB will be at Buffalo next week.
The Fins will go day-to-day with Tagovailoa “until he fully cleared,” which is presently unknowable. Bridgewater is close enough to back from a fractured pinkie on his throwing hand that he could have been used in an emergency Sunday. Thompson starting again also is a possibility moving forward..
Nevertheless, right now, a first playoff berth in six years is a big deal.
“That isn’t our goal just to get to the playoffs. But a fan base that hasn’t seen this since 2016 -- it’s very fulfilling for the way it happened,” said coach Mike McDaniel. “To take five losses in a row, for guys not quit -- very, very proud to be called head coach of this team.”
McDaniel ran quickly off the field afterward, as if to catch the end of the Bills game? Nope.
“It’s my move when I’m really excited,” he said, smiling.
He ran into an embrace from owner Stephen Ross.
“I know how many other teams were interviewing me. The answer is zero,” McDaniel said. “I’ll forever be lloyal [to Ross] for that.”
The rookie Thompson acquitted himself well, completing 20 31 passes for 152 yards and especially with no turnovers on a day when the run game carried the offense, Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson Jr. combining for 143 yards on 27 carries to take the pressure of the young QB.
“To experience the things we’ve experienced and finish like this, it’s amazing,” said Thompson. “This is a team willing to fight.”
With the win Miami avoided ending a season with six straight losses for the first time in its 57 franchise seasons.
And they avoided losing to an opposing offense that had produced only four touchdowns in the past 58 possessions coming in. And against a quarterback, Joe Flacco, who has now lost 18 of his past 21 starts.
It meant a Dolphins team once flying high at 8-3 somehow barely sneaks into the postseason at 9-8. It marks the club’s first three-year streak of winning seasons since 2001-03.
The victory that fashioned that streak was less than impressive and surely not overwhelming.
But a win was a win and ugly didn’t matter to the packed home crowd of 66,429 and to Dolfans cheering for something so, so rare to them this century:
A playoff team.
Said McDaniel admiringly of that team, “They wanted no part of this season being over. And it’s not.”
This story was originally published January 8, 2023 at 4:11 PM.
